Nebraska counties could hold all-mail elections under bill removing population cap

A legislative proposal to give all Nebraska counties the option to conduct elections entirely by mail was discussed at a hearing Wednesday afternoon.

Currently, only counties with populations under 10,000 can apply to the Secretary of State to mail ballots to all registered voters. In the last general election, 11 of the state’s 67 eligible counties did just that. In most counties, voters must request an absentee ballot to vote by mail.

Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who introduced LB237, which would remove the population limit, said there are many benefits to all mail elections, including reduced costs and higher voter turnout.

“Communities that have adopted this, it has been very popular in those communities. So, I thought giving the rest of the state the opportunity to decide if they want to model after some of these other communities would be a good thing," she said.

Beth Bazyn Ferrell with the Nebraska Association of County Officials said the bill would give counties more flexibility in how they conduct elections, but most urban counties probably would keep their current practice in place.

"We've heard that from larger counties that they probably wouldn't use it unless there was a specific set of circumstances," she said. "They wouldn't make that request to the Secretary of State. But we support the taking the population cap off, because it would allow them to engage in the conversation with the Secretary of State if they needed it."

The bill had no in-person opponents, but conservative senators on the committee had questions about how the proposal could impact election integrity.

Sen. Dan Lonowski said he has received emails from constituents claiming mail in voting results in more fraud. Ferrell said those fears are unfounded.

"When the ballots go out, the envelopes are coated," she said. "When they come back in, that code is scanned to make sure that, you know, no one votes twice."

The Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee will determine if the bill advances to the floor for full debate. However, given the bill's lack of priority designation by a senator, speaker or committee, it is unlikely to be on the agenda this session.

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